So obviously tonight’s a Jeppson’s Malort kind of night (my team, the Georgia Bulldogs, having pooched it in the Sugar Bowl), and when I went to find the four minibottles remaining in my pack of six, I COULDN’T FIND THEM. I was left with several alternatives, all worrisome or outright frightening: some thief had broken in and stolen… Read More »
I am fifty-seven years old. I realize that I graduated high school FORTY YEARS AGO. I’m old, thankyouverymuch. I don’t have children. I have, realistically, next to no idea what they teach kids in schools these days, nor how they go about teaching it. I assume computers and the Internet are involved. There are probably apps that the… Read More »
Twenty-five years ago tonight. Y2K. In late 1999 I was working as a technical trainer at a software company (the same one I’m working for today, in fact, just under another name). Our workforce had been divided into four groups — people who would work 8 pm to 8 am Tuesday through Thursday, people who would work 8… Read More »
I’m 56 — but yesterday a dental technician from Russia told me I looked MUCH younger and didn’t believe me until I showed her my drivers license. I took that with a massive grain of salt inasmuch as she also shared with me that two standard Russian cures for anemia are: drive a rusty nail into an apple and let… Read More »
I’m a town delegate to the Vermont Democratic Convention next weekend. We will be, among other things, electing our delegates to the national convention. People have to file to be state delegate candidates and we vote next weekend. (Regardless of how the votes come out, the slate must be gender-balanced and so on, so it’s possible for someone… Read More »
When I was 22 or so, my mother noted reddened areas on the backs of my arms which I hesitantly explained were rug burns (the result of extensive fooling around in my girlfriend’s individual office) and looked at me and said “Joel, do you know how to get a girl pregnant?” I said “Yes.” She said “Don’t.” And… Read More »
Little things that pop into one’s head unbidden department: the heavyset Russian guy with the diamond pinky rings who wound up sharing a hot tub with us on our first (Western Caribbean) cruise in 2004. He did not appear to speak any English and we certainly didn’t speak Russian and we didn’t know him from Adam’s off ox,… Read More »
Feeling rather somber today. 17 years ago today a severely mentally ill Virginia Tech student murdered 28 students and four instructors, to say nothing of wounding many more. At the time, this captured the nation’s attention and indeed the attention of the world. All the major networks sent their anchors to Blacksburg to report. Universities across the country… Read More »
Random thoughts about depression: I suffer from major depression. I have for most of my life, dating back to middle school at the very least. Depression causes me to have difficulty doing things I need to do. I procrastinate significantly more and I don’t have the energy to do things I enjoy. Something a lot of people don’t… Read More »
At some point, in a bout of what turned out to be utter foolishness, I gave my cell phone number to ActBlue, which promptly resold it or shared it with every Democratic candidate from the candidate for the Billings, Montana dog-catcher race to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. I get at least one text every day asking for… Read More »